A Nevada Republican activist recently took time to write to Sen. Bill Raggio (R-Reno), objecting to statements he’s made since the election that tax hikes *might* be necessary this legislative session. The writer pointed out – as Ronald Reagan explained many, many years ago – that when the tax burden gets too high, many people “vote with their feet” by moving to other states.
“I spent the last year researching the differences between Wyoming and Nevada,” the conservative letter-writer explained to the liberal senator. “I also spoke with the attorney who set up my new LLC. They have offices in both Nevada and Wyoming and are steering companies to Wyoming. All you are doing by raising taxes or threatening to raise taxes to support government employees and people who aren’t working or don’t want to is speeding up the exodus.”
But as we’ve come to see, Sen. Raggio doesn’t much care for the opinions of fiscal conservatives, and has little patience with them. In fact, it appears the good senator would just as soon see all of them loaded up in cattle cars and trucked to Wyoming.
“I don’t know who you are,” Sen. Raggio wrote back, “but if you feel that moving to Wyoming where the tax burden per capita is already greater than Nevada, be our guest. Incidently (sic), I haven’t suggested raising taxes at this point – I said its (sic) an option – and the last option. Tell me what you and your Republican friends have done to help the Republican party over the last 50 years other than to help tear it down.”
There you go. If you’re a Republican activist who opposes tax hikes in the middle of a recession, then you’re trying to tear down the Republican Party and should move out-of-state. Make perfect sense.
